Backyard 100 MILE RUN!!!!!
Yes, I ran 100 MILES in backyard and inside my house. 😁😁
Start time: April 1st, 2020 @ 4:10am
Finish time: April 2nd, 2020 @ 3:15am
100 miles in 23 hours 5 minutes.
3,250 laps around my backyard and inside my house.
The Backyard 100 founded because of my son, Harry... I give him all the credit for his creativity and mathematical skills. This all started a couple weeks ago when he wanted to know how many laps around the backyard would equal a marathon. So, we measured the distance. He calculated the number laps using mental math, all in his head!! He is a math genius. 😱
(Yes, my 7 year old son helped organize a backyard 100 mile run!!!! Impressive.)
So, I had plans to run the Pistol 100 mile race in March. Well, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, all my races were cancelled thru the end of May. This virus drastically changed everyone's lives. I gave myself new goals and decided to keep on running. However, I still wanted to run a 100 miler. I was well trained and ready to run 100 miles. With social distancing, lots of closures and shutdowns, and a "stay at home" order, it didn't seem realistic to do a 100 miles at a trail or park. (Going outside and going to trails ARE allowed right now though!! It is stated in the order.) Harry suggested that I run 100 miles in our backyard or house. So, I did. 🤷♀️🤷♀️ (Harry is the coolest kid ever.)
Accomplish your goals.
Finish what you start, enjoy what you do.
This is who I am...
Call it crazy, but this is who I am... ❤
The course:
First, I looked up the lot size and square footage of our property. Then, I measured the distance around the backyard with a tape measure. The backyard is 75 feet long and 44 feet wide. 238 feet in perimeter. Hopefully my neighbors didn't think I was crazy laying on the ground with a tape measure. Ha ha. Then, I measured the distance with my watch. Again, Harry calculated the number of laps around the backyard. The lap around the backyard is 0.04 miles, so 25 laps for 1 mile. 2,500 laps for 100 miles!!!! 😱
Outside Perimeter-
75+75+44+44= 238
5,280 feet in a mile. 5,280÷238= 22.18, rounded up to 23. 23 laps per mile.
The watch measured 0.04 miles, which is 25 laps per mile. I went with 25 laps per mile, because I wasn't going to take right angle turns. Lol.
Finishing inside: ⬇️⬇️
BUT, plot twist. Ha! I did the first 70 miles outside and the final 30 miles inside. So, 1,750 laps around the backyard for 70 miles!!! (My grass is fine and survived. Ha!) I came inside to eat dinner and took a break to sit down for a few, 30 minutes ish. Thank you, Scott. After dinner, I decided to run the rest inside. I measured the distance inside my house. It's 0.02 miles and 106 feet in perimeter. That's 50 laps for 1 mile. 1,500 laps for 30 miles. 😱 That's gave me the grand total of 3,250 laps around my backyard and inside my house to make 100 miles!!!!! 😱😱
70 miles around my backyard- 1,750 laps
30 miles inside my house-1,500 laps
100 MILES- 3,250 laps!
I also kept my watch GPS on to measure mileage. Then, I tracked my footsteps/step count/stride length. I normally average about 222,000 steps per 100 milers, so it's about 2,200 steps per mile for me. I kept track of my step count, and it was accurate throughout the day. (I did try to take bigger steps and lengthen my stride, it shortened the step count a little to about 2,180 steps per mile and saved my grass. Ha! I totaled 218,083 steps for this 100. The large stride helped with speed and did not harm my grass. Less steps on the grass! Ha ha.)
Harry and I both made a tally when I would run a lap too. I kept track in a notebook. When he was hanging out with me, he also counted my laps. When I was alone, I counted my laps. I knew that every 5 turns around the backyard was a lap, so 125 turns equaled a mile. I counted to 125. Every time I got to 125, I would stop and start over again. I have a math brain and love numbers.
(See, I had a lot of ways to make sure that this was error proof. HA!! I measured everything 5 different ways and had 5 ways to track my mileage. I normally don't use GPS, but I wanted several ways to measure the distance. 100.4 miles tracked with lap counting and tallies. 102 miles tracked on Fitbit. In all honestly, it was probably about 102 miles, if you count all the trips in and out of the house to get food, drink, and bathroom. It adds up. I would rather have too many miles, instead of not enough miles. HA HA. 😂)
I love loop type courses too, so this was great. (I really don't mind running small loops.) The "course" is extremely flat except for one tiny hill. Okay, the tiny hill is nonexistent. SO FLAT. Ha ha. I did add 10 flights of stairs on my staircase just so I could have some elevation. Can you run a 100 miles in your backyard and house?! You can absolutely do it. It can be done. Plus, there's a bathroom and "aid station" nearby at all times. Ha ha. I also had access to food, which was great. I ate too many Oreo cookies. Harry crewed me, ran with me, and played some games with me while I run. We played Wheel of Fortune, hop scotch, golf, Candy Crush, Red Light/Green Light, soccer, and basketball. This was quite a fun 100 miler!! I loved it!!! Seriously, SO MUCH FUN. (But slightly boring running in small circles, but I do enjoy it. I love loops. Ha ha) He also made a medal, a book, and sign for me. ❤❤
The final 2 hours of my run, I sang Backstreet Boys. Thankfully, I didn't wake anyone up with my singing. Ha ha.
This 100 mile run was great too because I was able to sleep immediately afterwards! HA HA! Since the run took place at my house, I went to sleep right after I was done, and I managed to get 4 hours of sleep!!! This is a record for me. Normally, I am awake for almost two days with all the traveling and going home.. Not this time! I felt very good after this 100... We even went for a walk later that day. 🙂
Also, I virtually met a wonderful lady on the Facebook Ultra Running group.. She is the owner of a running company and owner of a shop on Etsy. She was offering to make customized wooden medals for runners who had their races cancelled but are still running and achieving their goals.. AWESOME. Fantastic idea. She made Harry's picture/medal into a wooden medal. It is absolutely amazing. Best medal ever. 😁😁 Thank you, Kim!!! You are awesome.
Just because your races are cancelled doesn't mean that you can't achieve your goals or make new goals. You can run a marathon or ultra marathon without a race. Running is not cancelled. I still have goals that I want to accomplish, and I am determined to make the best of this situation. I still wanted to run a 100 miler because my race was cancelled, and I DID IT. (Some may call this crazy and not understand. That's okay. Just know, you CAN accomplish your goals. You CAN do anything.) I've created a running goal each week of this pandemic shutdown. Why not? You can make goals without a race!!
Week #1- 5 marathons.
Week #2- 7 marathons in 7 days.
Week #3- 100 mile run in my backyard and house
Week #4- ????
Why did I do this??
1. I did it to save my sanity. Ha! Seriously though, it was a great mental break. For one day, I forgot about what was going in the world, and I truly enjoyed every single moment running 100 miles and hanging out with my family. I ran carefree and happy. I was less stressed and less anxious. It was wonderful. Again, I throughly enjoyed every moment. It was priceless. It was a great break.
(I HIGHLY recommend you doing something to save your sanity. You deserve a mental break whether it's running, watching TV, sleeping more, coloring, etc. Do something that makes you happy. Take a mental break.)
2. I did it to show others that they CAN do anything. You can get creative with your goals and still achieve your goals, even during a pandemic. You can still live your life to the fullest during a pandemic. You might need to get a little creative, but you CAN live life and enjoy it. It might be a little different than expected for a while though.
3. I did it to inspire others to dream bigger and achieve their goals. It IS possible. Pandemic or not, you can do anything. Race or no race, you CAN run. Running is not cancelled. You can do anything.
4. I did it because I was inspired by another ultra runner who did a similar thing. This ultra runner ran 100 miles in his living room at his apartment! EPICALLY AWESOME. Wow!! Congrats again, Michael!! You are amazing. 🙂
5. I did it to cope. This situation has been very stressful. I did it to take my mind off things. It was awesome.
6. I did it to show others that it is okay. It is okay to not be okay right now. It is okay to feel off. Running an ultra marathon is funny like that because even in your weakest moments, you are strong. Even in the darkness, there is light. Remember this. Keep moving forward.
7. Lastly, I really wanted to know what it was like to run 100 miles without ever leaving your house. It is a lot of fun. Ha!! YOU CAN DO IT.
Covid-19 is a virus that caused this pandemic. It is crazy. You see, we are going through something very challenging in the world. The entire world is impacted. It is hard. It is a struggle. It feels weird. It is uncomfortable. People are getting sick and some dying. All of our lives drastically changed. Schools closed, restaurants closed, everything. You are allowed to be upset. You are allowed to feel off. You are allowed to grieve. This is traumatic. You see, we will survive though. I have been through trauma before, and I know we will survive. It is going to feel uncomfortable, but we will make it. The sun is going to come out again, and people will be together again. It will be a beautiful thing. As tough as it is right now, we will get through it. One day at time.
Just because we have a "stay at home" order doesn't mean you can't do things. (Obviously don't go visit family/friends or gather in groups. Get creative like my friend, who drove by her grandma's house with a sign to wish her happy birthday.) You can do something about it though... Take two things that bother you most about the situation and figure out what to do. Find a solution.There are a lot of solutions! For me, I'm using three things: running, traveling, and school. Since all of my races were cancelled thru the end of May, I'm going to run my own marathons and ultra marathons. I can still run. Running is NOT cancelled!!!! You can run a marathon or ultra without a race. You don't need a race to tell you to run. YOU CAN DO IT. Since we aren't traveling for races, we are exploring trails within walking/running distance from our house. (Like 2-3 miles away) We can walk/run to plenty of beautiful trails nearby, and it's great. I found two new favorite trails: Stations of the Cross and Planet Walk. We are spending a lot of time together as a family too. Since school has been closed, I'm homeschooling Harry now and getting creative with activities. We made bouncy balls and a volcano! I homeschooled him for 3.5 years before he started preschool, and I created two blogs/websites about it. We continued activities together until he completed kindergarten. We stopped when we moved last June 2019. So... It's nice to do this again. I missed doing this kind of stuff with Harry. Here we go!
So, get creative and do something about the situation. Find something you enjoy and do it. Find a positive. Search for happiness. Just know though, it IS okay to feel sad and a bit lost right now too. You are doing the best you can. Keep moving forward. ❤
(One thing you should not do though, do NOT be a bully!! No one needs this right now.)
The Serenity Prayer:
God, grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time,
enjoying one moment at a time;
accepting hardship as a pathway to peace;
taking, as Jesus did,
this sinful world as it is,
not as I would have it;
trusting that You will make all things right
if I surrender to Your will;
so that I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with You forever in the next.
Amen.
***************
(And... Don't worry... YES!!! I HAVE been practicing social distancing during ALL of my runs. I stay away from ALL people, and I do not touch anything. I do not put my son in harm's way. He is safe too. I am ONLY in contact with my immediate family, Scott and Harry. I am following the rules, I am being safe, and again, I am staying from all people. Running is not cancelled, and you are allowed to be outside, be in your backyard, or on a trail. It says this on the "stay at home" order. Just keep your distance, follow directions, and be safe. No negativity, please. No judgment, please. Let's build each other up instead of tearing each other down. This is a tough time and stressful time for everyone. There's no reason to be a bully right now, or ever. We are all doing the best we can. Be safe. Be a leader, do the right thing. Have some compassion for others, please. BE KIND. Do something POSITIVE RIGHT NOW. Take care of yourself and be safe!)
BE KIND.
BE POSITIVE.
❤
"We got to learn how to crawl before we learn to walk.
And if you want a little peace, sometimes you got to fight.
We got to walk through the darkness,
Before we stand in the light." --Sammy Hagar
